Every time I mention that I don’t eat dairy or soy-milk, people get really excited about the fact that I make my own Almond Milk. It’s really easy, and you can do it with most nuts or seeds. You just sit on a pail, get low, and tug. ;)

I used to purchase my almond milk in the 1L tetra packs by Almond Breeze, but for the following reasons, I am now “sold” on the DIY variety:

Reduces packaging (no more cumbersome Tetra packs)

Eliminates the cross-contintent trucking of a package that contains mostly water

DIY almond milk is higher in protein & 100% natural (the Tetra-pack kind often contains additives to make it thicker and creamier like carageenen, guar gum, & calcium carbonate)

Drawbacks?

Because there aren’t any preservatives, it only lasts 3 days so make as much as you’ll use

Unless you use a really fine sieve or a nut milk bag, it tends to be a bit grainier…no problem in cereal though!

You need to plan ahead a bit to guague your almond milk needs and take the steps to pre-soak nuts.

Almond Milk Recipe!

1c almonds

3-4c water

1T agave/maple syrup, or 3 soaked dates (Note #1) (optional)

1/4 tsp of salt

1tsp pure vanilla extract (optional)

*Halve recipe if you don’t think you’ll get through 4cups of almond milk in 3 days.

Strain through a fine sieve or cheese cloth to remove almond granules. (see Note #2 on what to do with pulp after & how to avoid the pulp altogether)

Store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Separation of fat and water will naturally occur, just shake before each use.

Note # 1: Soaking Dates

Dates should be soft enough to blend so just pour warm water over them and let them soak for 15 minutes or so. Or you can soak them overnight but in a separate container of water than the almonds since you don’t want to drain the dates or you’ll lose a lot of the sugars.

Note #2: What to do with Pulp:

A lot of recipes I see say you can reserve the almond pulp to use in cookies, crackers burgers, & breads (in place of find ground nuts), or by putting it right into cereal. The almond pulp only lasts a few days in the fridge so you can freeze it or dehydrate it to make it last longer. I personally don’t like the taste of the almond skins in the pulp so I haven’t bothered to really experiment with using it post-milk-making.

To solve my pulp waste problem, I’ve just decided to peelmy soaked almonds before blending them. (The skins come right off.) The result is a less but still slightly pulpy almond milk that I just use as-is…no straining required (although you still could). I use my almond milk in my granola so the extra texture works perfectly!

Discussion

5 comments for “Almond Milk”

Sounds so easy to make. My favorite alternative to regular milk is almond milk. It’s just so creamy and delicious. Perfect for dipping cookies, baking with, or drink it plain. I usually buy it by the case. Seeing this recipe makes me so excited to make my own almond milk. I gotta get some vanilla beans and maple syrup first thing in the morning. I’m pretty sure home-made almond milk tastes better than the commercialized ones. Thanks!

I used to make almond milk all the time, but I have been trying to cutback on spending so this is just one of the many things I cut out. Raw almonds are very expensive. I always enjoyed making chocolate milk with it.

Valen, it’s true that raw almonds aren’t cheap (here in Toronto I’ve found they cost $5.99/lb for conventional and around $11/lb for organic). But if 1 cup of almonds makes 4 cups of milk, then 1 Litre (4.2cups/Tetra size) is $1.58 (conventional almonds) or $2.18 (organic almonds). I generally pay $1.99-$2.30 for store-bought almond milk of that quantity…and like I said, it isn’t as fresh or as high in actual almond content as the homemade stuff. Food for thought! :)

Elaine: yes, using vanilla beans would be amazing! I normally use the alcohol-free (gluten-free) vanilla extract but the beans themselves would make it that much better.

Yes, almond milk may sound like a great non-dairy alternative for milk, but please remember it is not nutritionally equivalent!

First of all, milk you buy from the store is fortified with vitamin D, and is one of the top rated dietary sources for vitamin D. This plays a large role especially for those that live in the northern latitudes.

Second, milk has about five times more calcium than almonds per calorie.

Just some small things to think about – especially for the younger generation. Remember, almond milk is not milk!

Do some research on your milk. Cows Milk is not only highly acidic (meaning its promotes disease and sickness) but also high in casein (fat producing chemical). We are not built as humans to consume milk for our entire lives. There are plenty of other sources of calcium which are absorbed much better and contain higher levels of calcium than cows milk.